I returned from an extended Eid holiday last week. We stayed in Khartoum for the first day of Eid, sharing in Sudanese culture marking the end of Ramadan. After that we left for two weeks holiday in Europe, where I had the opportunity to re-immerse in my own culture. Cultures are important. They are the core of our beings as individuals and as communities. Learning to value the culture of others, as we appreciate our own, is not always easy but is at the heart of peaceful co-existence.
In Europe I enjoyed two cultural highlights:
The first was a visit to the Neues Museum in Berlin to see the Sudanese collection. The museum building itself has been wonderfully reconstructed by the British architect David Chipperfield. He preserved what remained from the old building that was badly damaged during the Second World War and rebuilt the rest in a related, simple, functional style. It is hugely effective.
Inside is the wonderful Egyptian and Sudan collection. The Sudanese collection includes a series of technically very fine and beautiful pots, the earliest of which pre-date Egyptian civilisation. It also includes some of the gold jewellery taken from the pyramids in Meroe. If ever anyone needed reminding of Sudan’s distinguished history and achievements this is a good place to start. I was not surprised to discover from the very distinguished curator who showed us the collection that most senior Sudanese visitors to Berlin put the Neues Museum on their “must see” list. The British Council is planning a major festival here next year to celebrate Sudan’s cultural heritage.
The other highlight was a week in Bayreuth to see the series of operas, called the Ring of the Nibelungen, written by Richard Wagner in the nineteenth century. Opera is part of the classic Western tradition, and for me is a rich art form which can communicate some universal human truths through the power of music and drama. With the Ring Wagner wrote a new type of opera, modelled on ancient Greek drama with a more balanced relationship between words and music. He built a theatre specifically to perform his operas, which is where the festival still takes place. The music is fantastic. The story was reworked by Wagner from German mythology. So there’s a lot of nonsense about magic, dragons and the like. But the underlying themes are still relevant. They are about power, about the legitimacy of rulers, the requirement of those in power to respect the laws and institutions by which they govern, and the corrupting influence of ambition and greed.
The story of the Ring ends with the waters of the river Rhine rising to flood the world, cleansing it for life to begin again. For me this was particularly ironic, for at the same time Khartoum and other parts of Sudan were being hit by the floods which have caused so much damage. I want to extend my sympathies to the relatives of the (mercifully few) fatalities and to all those who have suffered material loss. They include a number of staff in this embassy. I have been hugely impressed by the response of ordinary Sudanese people to the damage and suffering caused by the floods. They have gathered together, organised, and helped each other. This is culture too: The Sudanese tradition of Nafeer is as old as the artifacts that I saw in Berlin; and more powerful than any opera. I salute the efforts of ordinary Sudanese citizens who helped each other in their time of need.